Beware of promises to improve your life

The topic of finance can never be fully explored without coming full circle to the thing that causes debt problems in the first place, lack of education.  That doesn’t mean to say that you don’t have a good education.  It just means that your university degree, or your trade skills, are not in demand, and you are not being paid what you are worth.

Many people in this situation look for alternatives to broaden their perspectives and skills, making them more marketable, and improving their chances of landing their dream job, and making enough money to enjoy the lifestyle they dream of living.

In steps the organizations and companies who promise to help you improve your life.  Now, I am not talking about scammers, not really.  I am talking about organizations that prey on people’s ignorance of the ‘dream’ – for a price.

Online Universities

You have all seen the signs for online universities.  They look legit, and a university degree has always improved people’s chances of landing a good job.  That is, if the degree is worth the paper it is written on.

The first thing you need to know is that many countries do not recognize online degrees.  A couple years ago an online university pushed their program by telling people how much they could make by teaching English in China.  Great money, you could earn your degree in your spare time. It looked like a win-win situation.  Except that China does not recognize ‘any’ online degree, even if it is earned from a nationally accredited university.

The second thing is that many online schools are accredited by themselves.  They join with two or three other online universities and form their own accreditation organization. 

The last thing is that a university degree is not universal.  A university degree earned in England is not recognized in the USA, and vice verse.  In fact, in the USA, a university degree earned in one state is not necessarily recognized in another state.  That means, if your university degree was earned from a legit university in the USA, it might not be valid in the UK.

Work at Home

There are legit work at home opportunities.  However, they don’t advertise, you need to find them, or build them yourself.  Also, there is no ‘get rich quick’ scheme on the internet that will make you a millionaire.  Google will not pay you $1200 a month for writing a post about eating breakfast in your underwear. 

Drop Shipping works, but only if you have a lot of money to invest.  In the end, people usually buy from eBay or Amazon.  And, no one is going to buy candles you made in old glasses – no matter what the glossy ‘parent’ website tells you.

Freelancing works, but the ‘real’ contractors pay people to surf the databases like www.guru.com .  These people find the best of the best, usually people who have freelanced for more than a year, and hire them ‘off site.’ 

All of these methods can, and do, work.  Unfortunately, they take a lot of work, usually a substantial financial outlay, and a few months to a year to start seeing any ‘real’ income.

Publish a Book

This is one of the hardest scams to bust.  You pay a company ₤500 – ₤5000 to print 10 – 200 copies of your book.  Then, you sell them.  Unfortunately, today’s book buyers usually buy ‘authors’ not ‘titles’.  To be a profitable author you need to start promoting yourself long before your book is finished.

However, you can have your books printed ‘free’ at www.lulu.com ’s UK division.  You get the same quality, same offer, but you can sell online, and still buy copies of your book to sell to bookstores.

Just understand that you are not a real publisher, so the odds of getting your books into bookstores are less than nil, in fact, you are more likely to be hit by lightning twice this year.

The truth is, most self-published authors rarely sell more than 200 copies of a book.

It may seem laughable to some people that a person would believe that a book could give them financial freedom, but most people only see the up side of publishing.  Yes, a few people make a lot of money – but most never make enough to pay their bills.

Modelling/Movie Agencies

In line with the ‘publishing a book’ the bogus modelling and movie agencies promise big bucks for little work.  After all, ₤200 for a few hours work, two or three times a month, can make all the difference for a family who are struggling to pay their bills, and one who is planning their next vacation.

Bogus agencies prey on people who want to be famous. They may advertise in newspapers to encourage potential victims, both men and women, to attend meetings and casting seminars. For example:
‘Models and Extras Needed – £50 per hour to £300 per day. Full or part time. No experience. Male or female, no age limits. Tel: ‘ Of course, you must pay the casting agency to make a portfolio of photographs (often overpriced and less than industry quality) and find an agency who will offer you a contract. You are promised work in films, brochures and catalogues.  In fact, if you do not receive the offer within a set period of time then you get a full refunded. There is nothing to lose.

However, no work materialises and you don’t see that refund.